By Chelsey Dulaney and Leslie Scism
American International Group Inc. said Tuesday that it is buying
First Principles Capital Management LLC and tapped the
private-investment management firm's top executive as its new
investment chief.
First Principles CEO Douglas A. Dachille will succeed William N.
Dooley, 62 years old, who is retiring after nearly 40 years with
AIG. Mr. Dachille, who is 51, will also become executive vice
president.
The move will reunite Mr. Dachille and AIG Chief Executive Peter
Hancock, who overlapped for more than a decade when working at the
company known as J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., according to a
company spokesman.
In 1991, Mr. Dachille started a hybrid derivatives unit within
the group that Mr. Hancock was running.
After leaving J.P. Morgan, Mr. Dachille formed a partnership
with Mr. Hancock and Roberto Mendoza, another alumnus of the bank,
and Nobel Prize winner Robert Merton to buy Gen Re Securities from
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. But the parties couldn't agree on terms,
and Mr. Dachille left the partnership to join Zurich Capital
Markets, where he was president.
In 2003, Mr. Dachille helped found First Principles, which he
has led for the past 11 years.
First Principles, a fixed-income investment manager with about
$10 billion in assets under management, serves clients, including
endowments and pension plans.
The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of the
year. First Principles will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of
AIG. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
Write to Chelsey Dulaney at chelsey.dulaney@wsj.com and Leslie
Scism at leslie.scism@wsj.com
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